Earth Day 2021: UofSC faculty experts
Posted on: April 18, 2021; Updated on: April 18, 2021
By Carol J.G. Ward, ward8@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-7549
April 22 is Earth Day, and to help reporters develop stories about environmental protection, climate action, biodiversity and conservation, the University of South Carolina has compiled a list of faculty experts.
To arrange interviews, contact Bryan Gentry, brgentry@sc.edu.
Carol Boggs, a biology and ecology professor, can discuss the effects of climate and/or land use change on abundance and diversity of species, the effects of climate change species ranges, and the effects federal land conservation could have on biodiversity and wildlife
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Michelle O Malley(link is external) has long been inspired by gut microbes. Since she began studying the herbivore digestive tract, the UC Santa Barbara chemical engineering professor has guided several students to their doctoral degrees, won early and mid-career awards (including a recognition from President Obama), attained tenure and advanced to the position of full professor. She even had three children along the way. A constant through it all: goat poop. This has been the longest single effort in my lab, said O Malley, who with her research team way back in 2015 first embarked on an ambitious project to characterize gut microbes in large herbivores. The purpose? To understand how these animals manage, via their microbiomes, to extract energy from plant material, particularly the fibrous, non-food parts, where sugars are locked behind tough plant cell walls. Understanding this process could reveal methods for extracting the raw materials necessary for a wide variety